Latest entry
- Alex Trickett
- 25 Oct 07, 11:18 AM
London - The Rugby World Cup blog is now closed for comments.
Thanks to all of you for reading - we have had some 10 million page views since launching back on 28 August. And particular thanks to all who have written in to share their thoughts with us.
You can continue to get your blog fix on our Editors, TMS and Mihir Bose blogs.
And keep your eyes peeled for new blogs in 2008, which will be a phenomenally busy sporting year. Olympics, Euro 2008, Ryder Cup... Bring it on!
Recent entries
- 大象传媒 Sport Rugby
- 23 Oct 07, 09:01 AM
Hang out the bunting, strike up the band, Tom and Ben are home.
Not quite in a jet draped with flags, awaiting a press corps and tumult of fans, more in a campervan, on a ferry, still wearing those flip-flops. And that vest. Probably.
So here's a best of Fordyce & Dirs, in photos and links to remind you of the past seven weeks' adventure.
You can check out all of .
Continue reading "Now That's What I Call Tom and Ben (in photos)"
- Tom Fordyce
- 22 Oct 07, 09:44 PM
Calais ferry port, Monday morning - C鈥檈st tout. Seven weeks to the day that we set sail from Dover, hope in our hearts and three clean pairs of socks apiece in our luggage, the time has come for Ben and me to go home.
It鈥檚 a very quiet Bloggernaut the pair of us sit in today. For once the well-known brand of mp3 player is silent, the rugby ball motionless on the floor.
The rear of the campervan, as always, looks like a cross between an abandoned refugee camp and an explosion in a pant factory.
Continue reading "Heading back to old Blighty"
- Ben Dirs
- 22 Oct 07, 01:08 PM
Paris, Sunday - My mother phoned me this morning and asked me what I want for dinner on Monday night.
Mrs Dirs is a quality cook, but that鈥檚 not what I wanted to hear the morning after England played in a . This trip is over. Make mine a roast or I think I鈥檒l start crying.
My initial reaction to England鈥檚 defeat was pretty childish: 鈥渂othered鈥. Like most of the England fans still partying at 6am on Sunday morning, I was just happy to be there.
Continue reading "Best job in the world"
- Mark Orlovac
- 22 Oct 07, 07:23 AM
Waterloo station/ a cross channel ferry, Monday - As a final parting World Cup gift, myself, Tom and Ben (remember them?) thought we'd dish out a few prizes from the last seven weeks. First prize goes to all of you, obviously, for reading and joining in and making the blog what it is.
But after you lot, there have been some outstanding, and not so clever, achievements. Here's just a few. Let's call them "The Bloggys". (See if you can spot who wrote which ones!)
Continue reading "The Bloggys"
- Bryn Palmer
- 22 Oct 07, 06:59 AM
Well, it鈥檚 all over folks. Forty-eight matches, 44 days, 12 different venues and one winner.
South Africa took the ultimate honour, but many other teams and players gave us plenty of memories to sustain us through until .
So if you were picking a composite side from all the 20 nations competing in France, who would make it into your team of the tournament?
I鈥檝e canvassed the opinions of my colleagues in 大象传媒 Sport who have contributed to this blog over the last seven weeks, and this is our selection...
Continue reading "Team of the Rugby World Cup"
- Mark Orlovac
- 21 Oct 07, 07:06 PM
Paris 鈥 I doubt whether planning for the future of the England team was foremost in the minds of the bleary-eyed fans I saw wandering around the streets of Paris this morning.
After all the partying and heartbreak that accompanied Saturday鈥檚 simply getting home was as far ahead as these weary souls were prepared to look.
But as journalists gathered for player interviews in the bowels of the Stade de France late on Saturday night, some were already looking to next year鈥檚 .
Continue reading "Where do England go now?"
- Rob Hodgetts
- 21 Oct 07, 06:38 PM
London - England's World Cup final brings to the end another era and there will be a new-look side when the team take on Wales in the Six Nations opener on 2 February.
Not wholesale changes, maybe, but has already retired, while others could follow in the coming months. Brian Ashton - or whoever is the coach by then - will have free rein to start again with his selection.
We asked you earlier on Mark Orlovac's blog from Paris to send in your ideas of England's Six Nations starting XV.
From a very rough survey of about 20 replies, we've compiled the following composite England side.
Continue reading "Picking an England team"
- Tom Fordyce
- 20 Oct 07, 11:22 PM
Stade de France, midnight on Saturday - Can I make this blog sigh? Can I make this page shed a soft tear? Can I make these words jump off the screen and link arms with you?
Tonight, the nerve-frying, heart-squeezing, bone-shaking dream that has been .
At a Stade de France so cold the claps froze on your fingers, the Springboks did exactly what Brian Ashton鈥檚 boys had done for the last four weeks 鈥 held firm, made no mistakes, poured on the pressure and picked the enemy off with penalties.
Continue reading "England's World Cup dream dies"
- Ben Dirs
- 20 Oct 07, 11:09 PM
Paris - Hello all. I watched the final alongside my colleague Mark Orlovac at the Stade de France and rated the South African players. "Orlo" was in charge of England. Here's how we scored them.
Do you agree? Let us know your thoughts.
Continue reading "England v South Africa ratings"
- Ryan Jones
- 20 Oct 07, 08:22 AM
So it鈥檚 all over. After all the waiting, the hype and all the expectation, the tournament seemed to pass in the blink of an eye and leaves us with another four years to dwell over the next one.
What a tournament it was though. I think in hindsight, it will be regarded as the best yet for a number of reasons.
Continue reading "And rugby was the winner..."
- John Beattie
- 20 Oct 07, 08:13 AM
Honesty is the best thing I think. You see, the editor of the blog wants us all to pick our team of the tournament.
But I don鈥檛 want to. I want to talk about how rugby needs to get its act together. From a rugby point of view, this has been the worst ever world cup.
Continue reading "Five-a-side rugby anyone?"
